Health Care:

Some Solutions

Amazing how this topic goes from a non-issue to a hot issue and back to a non-issue -- all with no changes or resolutions made.

I personally think some changes should be made, but our leaders always seem to propose the wrong changes. One thing's for sure: turning the whole thing over to the government would be a disaster of the first water, as has nearly every other endeavor the government has undertaken. If you wanna know what health care would be like under government control, just go down to the DMV and try to get your license renewed.

One of the changes that should be made is insurance reform. Funny thing: In the midst of the debate early in the Clinton administration, there were about three major proposals for health care reform floating around. Every single proposal included insurance reform as part of the plan. In the end, none of the proposals were adopted. You would think that someone would have noticed that all were agreed that insurance reform was needed and passed that portion of the plans, but I guess that makes too much sense for Congress.

I have two separate ideas for insurance reform: a restriction on the way customers are classified by risk, and a series of options for coverage. These are not an either/or pair of proposals; I'd like to see both adopted.

Yet another possible solution for the health care situation in the US would be what I call a"National HMO". This provides a far more "liberal" solution to the problem, but is far more likely to be deemed acceptable to conservatives than the typical liberal solutions.

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Of course, if you have questions or comments, you are welcome to send e-mail to me at  palmk@nettally.com.